Ball-caster.



n. B. HUSSEY.

BALL (EASTER.

APPLICATION FILED PEBJI, 1910.

956,969. Patented May 3, 1910.

D.B.Hussa w W Ahb'y.

' the fol owin scription, re erence belng hadto the accom- DENNIS B. HUSSEY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

BALL-CAS'IER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1910.

Application filed February 11, 1910. Serial No. 543,272.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Drums B. HUssEY, a

citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding in the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Iln rovements in Ball-Casters, of which is a full, clear, and exact depanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to a ball caster, and

it has for its object the reduction of a caster of this description trait is of an extreniel simple and inexpensive nature, and in WhlCll the bearing parts are so designed as to afford a minimum of friction between a caster ball and the bod in which it is seated without utilizing ball earings, as it is comthe caster, with one of the mon to do, against which the caster balls rest and which are utilized for the pur ose of lessening frictional contact between t e caster balls and the bodies of the casters.

Figure I is a vertical section through my caster. Fig. II is an enlarged lan-v1ew of alls partly broken away." Fig. III is a vertical section ofv a modification.

In the accompanying drawings :1 designates the body of my caster which is designed tobe secured to an article of furniture, or any other article that it may be desired to support by the casters, in any suitable manner. The caster body 1 is rovided with a plurality of pockets 2 exten 'n upwardly therein from its bottom, there eing 3 of such pockets illustrated in the construction shown in Figs. I and II, although there may be any other desired number of the pockets. Each pocket 2 is of semi-spherical shape and withmeach pocket is a series of annular ribs 3, 4 and 5, concentric with each other, the rib 3 being a crown rib located near the top of the pocket, the rib 4 being an intermediate rib, and the rib 5 a bottom rib. These three ribs are of different diameters,

- the crown rib 3 being of the smallest diameter, the intermediate rib 4 being of greater diameter than the crown rib, and the bot- 4 tom rib 5 being of still reater diameter. 50

6 designates the caster alls that are seated in thepockets 2 and'which contact with all of the ribs 3, 4 and 5 in the pockets they 7 esignates a retaining rin secured to the caster body 1 by any suitab e means, and preferably by screw threads formed respecseat in the caster body tively upon the exterior of the caster body at its base and the interior of the retaining ring. The retaining ring is provided with a bottom flange 8 that extends inwardly from the body of the ring, so that it is constantly balls that are seated in the pockets, while maintaining the balls out of contact with the greater proportion of the surfaces within the pockets and, as a consequence, the balls may turn in any direction with very slight resistance to their movement, due to the mini mum of frictional contact between the balls and body of the caster afforded by the concentric ribs.

In Fig. III I have shown a modification in which a single ball 6 is mounted in a body 1" contaimng a single pocket 2, as distin uished from the employment of a plurahty of balls for the support of the caster body. In this modification, the single pocket contains concentric ribs 3, 4, and 5, corresponding in contour and utility to those numbered 3, 4, and 5, previously de-' scribed. The ball 6 is maintained inits 7 having an inward y extending flange 8 which, as will be apparent, completely surrounds the ball 0* in the modified construction, instead of only partially surrounding each of the balls in the first described construction.

1. A ball caster, comprising a bod having a pocket therein and provided wit a plura ity of endless concentric ribs in said pocket,and a ball seated in said pocket and resting against said ribs.

2. ball caster, comprising a body having a pocket therein and provided with a plurality of endless concentric ribs in said pocket, a ball seated in said pocket and rest- -1ng against said'ribs, and a retaining ring secured to said body and having an inwardly extending flange located beneath the body whereby said ball is held within said pocket.

DENNIS 1i. HUSSEY.

In the presence of- EDNA B. LINN,

A. J. MOCAULEY.

by the retaining ring 

